Mary Cullen, who was the 2006 NCAA 5000-meter champion outdoors for Providence College, will run the Manchester Road Race in Connecticut on Thursday

Mary Cullen, who was the 2006 NCAA 5000-meter champion outdoors for Providence College, will run the Manchester Road Race in Connecticut on Thursday. Cullen was second to her training partner Kim Smith in Manchester's 4.75-mile race in 2005. Cullen had been third in 10,000 at the 2005 NCAA Championships. She won numerous Big East titles while at Providence, including a 5000/3000 double indoors in 2006. On November 5, Cullen won her second consecutive New England Cross Country Championship. Originally from Drumcliffe in County, Sligo, Ireland, Cullen was 12th in the 5000 at this summer's European Championships is a personal best 15:25.80.

Runner's World Daily: A lot of the top Providence people have gone to the Manchester Road Race over the years. Kim Smith has won it, obviously, and Amy Rudolph has won it a bunch of times. Have you done it in the past?Mary Cullen: I actually did it last year. I finished second last year to Kim, because I didn't have the (NCAA) cross country season eligibility. I did that instead. It was a great race. There's definitely a brilliant tradition. All Providence athletes have gone there, men and women.

RWD: Was that one of the first large American road races that you'd done?MC: Yeah. Actually, I hadn't roadraced really at all in America or anywhere else, so it was the first big one for me in general, and definitely in the U.S.

RWD: The Manchester Road Race definitely is a big holiday celebration , isn't it? Outside of the elite field, there are thousands of people out there. It must have been quite a spectacle for you to witness.MC: Oh yeah, it was great. I always knew the Manchester Road Race was a big race, but it wasn't until I went last year and saw that the night before you go to the Manchester Town Hall and the whole community of Manchester is there to see the elite athletes, and all the family and kids and everyone get into it. It's a great race for the elites, but it's definitely a great day for Manchester, Connecticut.

RWD: After NCAA track in the spring, you went over to Ireland for awhile and had some European racing to do. How long have you been back in Providence?MC: I got back later than usual. I got back October 4.

RWD: How much racing have you done here this fall? We noticed you did the New England Cross Country Championships again.MC: Yeah. I did the Cardi's 5k Road Race in Swansea, Massachusetts the Saturday after I got back, and I won that (in 16:02). And I raced the New England Championships in Franklin Park (in Boston) on the 5th of November, and that went well. I won it last year as well. It's good just to go up there again and compare my time with last year. I was roughly 17 seconds faster than I was last year (she ran 19:47 for 6k).

RWD: You've run in Franklin Park quite often now, haven't you?MC: Yeah. You'd almost call it a home course for Providence College. We ran Big East or Regionals on it every year. We're on it quite a bit, but it's a great course. Especially when it's dry, it's a good running course.

RWD: Now that you're back in Providence, how does your routine compare to when you were an undergraduate? Obviously, you don't have classes to go to. But are you back with the same training partners, for example, like Kim Smith?MC: It is different than in college. I got a contract with Reebok since I graduated, so it helps me just take the running thing a little bit more professionally. I don't have class and stuff like that, but I'm running twice a day, and that takes up a good part of your day. I train with Kim, obviously, a lot, and Amy Rudolph and Marie Davenport and Roisin McGettigan and a few other girls. It's great. It was brilliant being home (in Ireland), but it's so much easier when you've got a group of those girls in that talent range. You kind of have to come back to it. Amy Mortimer just moved from Boston down to here as well. It's great having her on board. She's a great girl.

RWD: Is your overall training volume more than it was in college?MC: Yeah, it is. My average mileage per week was increased. My long run has gone from like a 12-mile run to a 14-mile run. And even my workouts have increased - not a whole lot mileagewise, but they've gotten a little bit longer because I'm kind of getting ready for a 10k next summer. I'm running probably 85 miles a week instead of the 70 or 75 in college.

RWD: What 10k are you getting ready for? Do you hope to be at the World Championships next summer in the 10k?MC: That's like the ideal, definitely. I'd love to get an "A" standard for it. It'll be difficult. But I think if I can keep injury-free, hopefully I can get there. I'm going to go out to Stanford next year and try and run a fast 10k out there.

RWD: In the last couple of years, it was always a tough choice for you between the 5000 and 10,000 at the NCAA Championships outdoors. You obviously had talent at both. You ended up choosing the 5000 for your last NCAA meet.MC: It was a difficult decision to make. Obviously, since indoors didn't go according to plan at all, I only had one season left (after that). I really wanted to get that NCAA title. A lot of people thought, well Molly (Huddle of Notre Dame) had beaten me twice, she'd beaten me at the Big East and out at MtSAC. So people were wondering "maybe you should avoid her and go for your 10k and get your title, or do you try and compete against her again?" It definitely was that little bit of uncertainty between myself and Ray (Treacy, her coach), deciding which way to go. But my heart was always with the 5k. In the 10k, Victoria Jackson (of Arizona State) obviously ran really well. But to win the 5k title, I feel, would have just meant a little bit more to me, so that's why I ended up choosing it.

RWD: It was a brave choice, and it worked out.MC: Yeah, it did. It worked out great in the end, but it was definitely a nerve-wracking day.

RWD: You'd come close with second and thirds and you'd been a favorite in the indoor season, and the victory lap after your outdoor 5000 win shows you smiling so broadly. It must have been one of the happiest days of your life.MC: Oh my God, yeah. So many people ask me what it felt like. It honestly was one of the best days. As you said, because I was favored for indoors, there was that little bit of pressure and stuff, and it didn't happen. And I was second and third in NCAAs before. But when I was going down that home straight in Sacramento and realized "oh my God, I think I'm going to win this," I just couldn't believe it. With Ray being there, he believed in me all through it, so just to be celebrating with him as well, it was really brilliant. It was really magnificent.

RWD: When you finished NCAA competition last spring, you went back to Ireland very shortly thereafter. What were the first things you were interested in competing in there?MC: We had the European Championships in Sweden in August. I wanted to get a couple of races in Europe before those. But I had a long NCAA season behind me. That was sort of like a high, so I had to regroup to get back into training mode again. I raced a couple of 3ks in London and Lucerne. They went alright but not great. I wanted to get under 9:00, but I ended up running 9:05 and 9:00, actually I ran my national championships which I had to do so I could qualify for the Europeans But I did the 1500 and won that, which was a little surprise. I was really happy with that. Then I went to Sweden and I ran the 5k, which ended up being a straight final. I was 12th in 15:25, so I got a big personal best out of it, which was good.

RWD: What did you do after being in Sweden?MC: This 4x1500-meter race was set up because we were going to attempt a world record, Roisin McGettigan and two other Irish girls and myself. We went to Scotland and attempted to break the world record, but we didn't do it. I took two weeks off, and then another two weeks running every other day but not a whole lot. I just got back into training in September and I'm getting ready for European Cross Country December 10 in Italy. I was there in Holland last year and finished 11th. Top five, I'd be very happy with, and obviously a medal would be unbelievable.

RWD: Do you think you'll be looking to do more of the American indoor circuit this winter?MC: Yeah. Now that I'm with Reebok, I'll be doing the Reebok Indoor Games at Reggie Lewis (in Boston), which I'm really excited about. I've gone up to watch those in past years, and it's always been a good meet, so I'm looking forward to competing in that. BU (Boston University) is always a great track and fast times, so I'd like to run there as well. And I think there are a few races in the Armory (in New York) which I've always heard is a great track. I've never been on it.

RWD: Since you're not going to school now, what kinds of things do you fill your day with besides running?MC: The girls who run spend a lot of time together. We kind of take our little naps at the same time as well. We rest up during the day. Kim and I aren't the best when it comes to gym routines, so we're trying to get in on that. We're not too good when it comes to lifting and stuff. We're trying maybe start that a little bit. Once you're running and then running again and doing the gym in-between, the day is pretty much full. Otherwise, you try to relax. We read quite a bit now, actually, in the time in-between. I read "Run With The Buffaloes," which I know every high schooler in America has read, but I just finished it last week. It was a good read. And because we have such a good group here with Amy and Roisin and Amy Mortimer, we just kind of hang out a lot together. It's a good life. I can't complain.

It was announced over the weekend that Kim Smith has withdrawn from the Manchester Road Race due to an Achilles tendon injury.